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6 February 2015

Checking Out The Competition On Hangouts

I can see a time coming up at some point in the future where people will live on Google Hangouts On Air. Some people already are. Before the world's first Hangout celebrities are still in the wings looking through the list of available Hangouts can be a surreal, frightening and depressing experience.

The bad news is that trying to find some content to engage with in Hangouts On Air is a big challenge. The good news is that we are all living in a time pregnant with opportunity.

On the theory that forewarned is forearmed I took the opportunity to whizz down a typical list of available Hangouts and show you some broad categories of people who are online now.

Non-English People

It's not a surprise that people who do not participate in the Western culture of mass media and celebrity have quickly begun to grasp the potential of this thing. I think that if we weren't all spoon-fed movies and television in its current formats, neatly packaged and directed, we would be a lot further along with this thing.

If you are non-English you are used to make-dos in media, I suppose. In which case you are not easily going to be put off harnessing an incredibly powerful media tool by the necessity to include a few make-dos along the way.

Religious Types

I am neither endorsing nor deriding this content but it seems that evangelisers and proselitysers of all stripes are alive to the potential of this platform. New media is well known as a hotbed of zealotry and extremism so this kind of programming is to be expected.

Traditional Western media has to be seen to be straight down the middle, even its extremity is watered down until it fits within a broadcasting standard. This kind of niche market sermonising is finding it's home on Hangouts.

Minecrafters/Let's Players

Anywhere there is new media are video gamers streaming their gaming sessions these days. Hangouts and Twitch TV are slowly merging together. This is important because of the last point here:

Youthful Types

See this kid? In two decades time he will own and control all this media stuff that the current generation finds so difficult. A thirty six year old going into business today will be hopelessly outclassed in the market place in two decades. Why? Because these kids are playing around with this tech today and by the time these people step into business they will already feel at ease with this type of broadcasting.

That last point I can testify to. It happened to me. When I was six I got comfortable with a Sinclair ZX81 and now I am a computer master, not mastered by my computer. Staying up to date with technology isn't easy, but it is essential.

The Good News

All this means that if you have thoroughly prepared content, the will to deliver it effectively and the patience to grow your media marketing plan you have the opportunity to dominate with relative ease. One day Hangouts will be rammed to the rafters with content as engaging as what currently spills through our television sets. Everyone will be more competent. Businesses will do this as a matter of course.

That is a daunting world to contemplate. But we don't live in that world, we live in this one. The challenges are different but the potential rewards are much greater than the local broadcasters of the future will dare to dream of.